Hiccup and Astrid

memories part 5

Stoick came to visit the edge but he stays there after a storm hits.
The gang gathered around the chief who was going to tell them a story.
"I found a good one"
And he looked at Hiccup and Astrid with a huge grin in his face
"Please, not that one" the two of them said in the same time.
"Not an option" snoutlout said teasing.
"Begin chief"tuff said in an excited tone.
Hiccup sighed and sit with Astrid in the back.
"Okay...
Hiccup had been searching for a way to cheer up Astrid for the past four hours that day and had come up with an absolutely incredible nothing.
When he had seen the crestfallen look on her face as her father waved good-bye from his retreating ship to the Dragon's Nest, Hiccup had known that he had to fix it. He wasn't entirely sure how yet, but he would.
Since her father's departure, she had been in a considerably moody snit, tossing her axe at unsuspecting barrels and driving a fist into Snotlout's face whenever he so much as uttered a syllable. Hiccup, like nearly everyone else in the village, had known to give her a wide berth.
That had been the day before. He hadn't seen her smile in a day, and he knew that he had to be the one to bring it back. True, he wasn't the best equipped for such a monumental task, but by Odin's beard itself, he was certainly going to try. 
He had been combing the woods all day for some sort of acceptable gift for her. A bouquet of wildflowers? No. Astrid hated flowers. She scowled at the sight of them. Said they weren't Viking-ly. Perhaps he could carve her a figurine out of redwood bark? No, no, that wouldn't work at all; Astrid wasn't to be trusted with fragile things. (That was one thing they had in common.)
He considered the possibility of writing her a poem, but then he remembered that Astrid vomited at the mere mention of poetry; making her a new axe was a viable option, but he had wanted to save such a thing for a special occasion, like maybe when he married her. (It was easy to have such big dreams, being only thirteen.)
A sharp gust of the autumn wind swept down through the trees and slammed into his back, slicing easily through his wool tunic, and he shivered. As much as he wanted to continue wandering the woods, he knew it was high time he headed home. Night fell swiftly in the fall, and he didn't want to be caught out in the forest when it did..."
"Dad, remind me not to tell you anything again"
"But you told me and I'm gonna tell them...
The hike back to Berk was tough and tiring, as the wind was blowing against him and it was getting dark. The sole thing on his mind was he trudged up the hill to his house was getting a fire started.
Ordinarily, there would already be one waiting for him, but I had headed out on the voyage as well, leaving Hiccup to tend to himself. He was a big lad now, I had said. He could handle things like that.
Hiccup pulled open the mighty wooden door and had just enough time to slip in before the gusts slammed it shut. He stood still against the door for a moment, listening to his breath fill the dim emptiness.
"Dad, I'm home!" he called out, raising his arms enthusiastically. "Did you miss me?"
Only the silence answered him, and his hands dropped back to his sides as he sighed and murmured, "Nope. Guess not."
He began the task of making dinner for himself and starting a fire, a chore he was used to. Sometimes the loneliness was a blessing; other times he could hardly stand it. He couldn't decide which he felt at the moment.
As he worked, he ignored the note written in my scratchy handwriting that laid on the table. He never bothered to look at them anymore. They never meant anything.
Son—
Take care of yourself while I'm gone and don't break anything.
There is a bundle of new wood by the fireplace. Do not use it. Use the logs from the usual pile.
If I don't make it back, both you and Gobber know the proper ceremonies for initiating Snotlout as the new Chief.
I'll be thinking of you.
—Stoick
Without glancing at the words for a second, Hiccup snatched the paper off the table and crumpled it up, tossing it into the fireplace with the kindling. His eyes fell on the neatly wrapped bundle of dry gray logs leaning against one brick side of the fireplace and he smiled to himself.
"Wow, a whole bundle of fresh wood. I'm glad you care, Dad."
He unraveled the twine and heaved three logs into the fireplace on top of the kindling, taking the two pieces of flint from their tray on the mantle and slicing them together a few times. At last, a spark lit the kindling and a soft flame spread out in the fireplace, warming him immediately.
He turned and crawled into my  enormous, fur-covered chair, curling up in it, looking inordinately small as he wrapped his arms around his bony knees. 
He noticed, absentmindedly at first, that one of the logs had started to burn a vivid green.
He blinked, stared, and blinked again. The two other logs were taking on flames of the red and blue variety. He continued to watch in dumbfounded astonishment as one of the logs promptly exploded. A noisy burst of bright green sparks appeared, then another, and another, and then the other two logs joined in, and soon the combustions of color were firing off in every direction.
Hiccup yelped and leaped for cover behind the chair, putting his hands over his ears as the walls of the room were flooded with shade after bold shade of flames. It was beautiful and fantastic and terrifying, and when it finally died down, Hiccup cautiously crept back out into the open and only one thing crossed his mind: something so like Astrid could not be wasted.

"Perfect."..."
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To be continued...